Endgame
by Dawn of Dusk
Summary: In the end, it seemed Caliborn was right after all. Roxy/Calliope, warnings for blood and character death.


I do not own Homestuck. Homestuck and its characters are the creation of Andrew Hussie.

ooo

It was over.

Everything was over. The eight teenagers who stood before their defeated enemy hardly believed it. All these years or fighting and waiting, waiting and fighting; they had finally paid off. Lord English, their ultimate enemy, had fallen. No doubt the trolls had been similarly victorious against Jack Noir.

However, Lord English was not yet dead, and it seemed he had something to say.

The massive green creature before them coughed, spitting up candy red blood in the process. "Heh, it seems you kids got the better of me. Alright, I admit it. You won. But you know what? I think someone else would like to see this. Come on out and see what your friends have done, Calliope!" he exclaimed, letting his billiard-ball eyes slip shut.

At this name, Roxy seemed to perk up. "Calliope! What have you done with her?" she asked, anger and worry mixing in her voice.

There was no response. Instead, the green mass before them started shifting. It grew smaller right before their eyes, and the wounds that had originally bled candy red bled brown, then (they all gasped) lime.

At the sight of the lime blood, everything that Calliope had ever told Roxy about herself clicked into place in Roxy's head. The way Calliope referred to her and her brother's situation as unusual, the rule with their names, even her ruthless self-deprecation; everything made sense. It suddenly dawned on her that there was no way that Calliope and her brother _didn't _share a body.

"Calliope!" Roxy gasped, running toward the cherub girl.

"Roxy, don't!" Jake exclaimed. "It could be dangerous!" He ran forward to stop her, but was halted himself by Dirk.

"Just let her," he said simply, an intense look in his eyes. Jake gulped, nodded, and stepped back again. Jane and the other four held back, ready to strike should danger present itself again. No doubt the four who had never known Calliope were curious; they were bound to be.

Dirk glanced back at them. "We'll explain more later, but Calliope was a friend of ours," he said. They simply watched the situation unfold, confused expressions their faces.

Roxy reached the bleeding cherub and knelt down beside her. Her eyes opened. They were no longer a constantly shifting collection of billiard balls, but instead a solid lime green. She reached a hand up weakly, touching Roxy's face.

"R-Roxy? Is that you?" Calliope asked weakly, coughing up more blood (to Roxy's horror, this time it was lime, not candy red).

"You're going to be just fine, Cali! W-we're going to heal you and then you're going to come with us, a-and-" Roxy knew she was grasping at straws; even if Calliope could be saved, her living meant the definite possibility of a resurgence of Lord English.

"No, I'm not," Calliope said, cutting Roxy off mid-sentence. She was silent for a moment. Then, "You are even prettier in person. Do you know that?" She smiled weakly, the light in her eyes growing dimmer by the second.

Roxy took Calliope's other hand in hers. "Cali, I'm so stupid," she said, her voice beginning to crack. "I should have figured out everything with you and your brother from the start. I… I should have called your name like I promised to!" A few tears escaped Roxy's pink eyes and flowed down her face.

"Roxy, please don't cry." Another cough. More blood. "You had no idea the full extent of my situation, and for that, the fault is mine. I should have told you more, but I was so intent on following as many rules as I could. I felt terrible just telling you my name."

Suddenly, memories of that fateful final conversation began bouncing around in Roxy's mind. She remembered the artwork Calliope had drawn for her as a 'farewell' gift, her surprise at finding out that Calliope was actually not a troll, and most of all, Calliope's strongly negative response to Roxy's request to see her.

_'Sad to say, no one will kiss the corpse I will leave behind.'_

Roxy knew what she had to do. All the doubt and fear Roxy had in her mind that one time she almost kissed Jane to revive her was nowhere in her system this time around.

"Calliope, you're beautiful too," Roxy said gently to the cherub.

"Do you really think so?" she asked, her breath coming out in wheezes. She knew she had a matter of minutes left, if even that.

Roxy leaned down towards her. "Yes," she answered, pressing her lips to Calliope's.

As far as kisses went, it wasn't the most passionate, or the most romantic, or even the neatest. But that wasn't what mattered; all that mattered to Roxy was letting her dear friend know in her last moments that someone _would _kiss the corpse she would leave behind.

Roxy broke the kiss, not even caring that she was now covered in blood. She looked down at Calliope, who was smiling faintly.

"Thank you, Roxy," she said, eyes, fluttering closed for the final time. "My… dearest… friend." She took her last breath, and then lay still.

The dams broke. Roxy collapsed, sobbing on Calliope's form. Jane began crying into Dirk's shoulder. Jake looked like he wanted to cry. Even the four other heroes, who had no idea who this cherub girl was, looked mournful.

John was the one to break the silence. "There must be a way to…" but trailed off when Dirk shook his head slowly before going back to consoling Jane.

"I don't think there's anything we can do, John," Rose said quietly, contemplating the actions of her not-ecto-mother.

And she was right. But she wasn't the only one who was right.

Caliborn was right, too; Calliope's death truly was her single greatest achievement.

ooo

This was an idea I've had floating around in my head for a while now. Basically, this is a "what if?" situation. What if the kids and the trolls never figure out that Calliope and Caliborn share a body? What if, as a result, they never figure out how to separate the two? What if they finally defeat Lord English, only to discover they've killed Calliope as well?

Enjoy your Sadstuck.


End file.
